The front that had been seamless for a year came apart in ninety seconds the moment there were real consequences to share, because it had never been loyalty that bound them.

It had been convenience.

And convenience does not hold, once the bill comes due.

I did not need to say a word.

I only had to stand there, holding my son, and watch the two people who had spent a year telling me I couldn’t trust my own eyes stop trusting each other.

Chapter 10 — Why

Because I was watching my husband’s face, and I understood, all at once, what he was actually afraid of.

He was not frightened because our baby had been given something that put him in that exam room.